H

 

I love the MINI but....
The Type R with it's LSD and 220 HP should be able to clean up on the MINI.
SW

 

Actually the Type R has 190 HP...that said it should still clean up in D stock. One sleeper car to watch though...with the right driver...is the BMW 330CI. It can legally run 18x8.5" wheels (more rubber), it has 225HP, 214 ft-lbs of torque, and without sunroof should be quite competitive in DS. The only downside that it doesn't have LSD and weighs about 3200 lbs. Watch for one at Nationals next month

As much as I love the COOPER S I don't think it will be competitive in DS this year. We'll see where it lands next year.

Mark

 

Well after looking through several results webpages around the country for DS at SCCA solo II, the cooper S seems to be keeping up with the rest of the pack. This car can definitely give the Type R and the 330Ci a run for its money, but of course, this all depends on who's driving. We will have to wait until September to see how everyone does in the nationals....

 

Also, don't forget the audi S4s either, they've been doing very well this season at the autocross. I think that the MCS handles the best out of any car in DS, but what it gains in time on turns it loses on the straits

 

actually,
the 03' type R should have 220 bhp with massive 13" brembos. however, i would still chose my cooper s over the RSX type R. i actually have consider putting deposit on the 03' type R as soon as they would accept it, but i chose to join the cooper "movement" insteand. and after driving it for the past two months, this is whtat i think. if it's autocrossing, like my chances. i would, however, need slightly cooler brakes, or is it just me. even if i lose, i won't lose by much....

bbt4
electric blue cooper s looking forward to running into a type R in the twisty bits
california

 

Bumped to Racing and Competition

Oh

 

My last day at work before school started this semester I drove a 2000 model Type-R.

I only drove it for a few minutes and did not even get it out of 3rd gear but all I can say is WOW. That car had the most perfect feel of any car I have ever driven and I have driven some pretty highend sports cars at my shop. (various Porsches including a couple 911's, various model corvettes, RX-7's, Miata's and so on)

The clutch was so incredibly smooth and the shifter just had the most perfect feel to it. It is hard to describe how it felt. When I put my hand onto it the first time it felt very solid and heavy. No play at all in the handle when it was in gear. Most honda manuals I have driven have a little bit of play when in gear. You could put a fair amount of pressure onto the shifter without chainging gears which helped the solid feeling it had. Once you reached the pressure threshold necessariy to move the shifter though the movement was instant.

The only way I could give an example of how it felt would be something like this. You have a switch that will hold exactly 3 lbs of pressure and increasing the presure ever so slightly will throw that switch instantly. That is the best way I can sum up how the shifter felt.

God the clutch I could use a clutch like that all day long. It was so perfect just the right amount of resistance and and a very definite catching point that you could just sense.

 

The ITR is probably the best front wheel drive track car ever produced (in stock form, of course). So, given drivers of equal ability, I'd say the Acura would win every time. Having said that, drivers can vary wildly. One of the reasons autox is so fun.

 

What are you guys talking about Ds and SCCA? Is it like a race or something?

 

Wow, old thread. This argument's been going on for a long time. Oh well, it has renewed bench racing appeal. I don't know how folks feel about zombie threads around here, but I'll answer.

It's very similar, but not technically a race. They're talking about the D stock class in SCCA solo 2, commonly known as autocross. It's racing around cones against a timer. Not door to door racing. It's hard, and tons of fun.

My opinion: I won't be the guy beating Integras, but if the PAX numbers for the classes were accurate before the S got moved to DS, it should be pretty close between them on an autocross course. I'd go so far to say that the advantage might even go to the MINI. Totally stock, I'd say that the extra HP and more slippery shape of the ITR would let it edge out the MINI on most normal sized race tracks. You'd have to be really good to make up the time in the corners. The air is just not kind to our cars.

 

Scabpicker, so you think the MCS over the ITR?

 

No, not really. At autocross, depending on the course, I think it should be pretty close. From what folks say, at the faster nationals courses the ITR will be hard to beat in a MINI. That seems a little shaky as a rule to live by since when the MINI S was in G stock, it's PAX ( a factor used so you can compare the times from different classes ) was .003 faster than the D stock PAX, which was dominated by the Integra type R. We'll know more about this at the end of the year, I suppose.

I've never driven on a real track, but on a regular race track, I think the MINI driver is going to have to be much better to beat the ITR. They're around the same hp/weight, but the Integra has higher absolute HP. That, coupled with its sloped windshield, etc. should make it faster than the MINI above 70 on the straights.

But that's all bench racing. Until you throw tires on them, put drivers in them, and tell me which track they are running at: I wouldn't put money on it either way.